A CHRONIC alcoholic with 181 convictions breached his anti-social behaviour order for the 43rd time.

But Charles Rush, 53, was spared jail at Teesside Crown Court yesterday, in a last-ditch effort to stop him offending.

Rush breached his anti-social behaviour order (Asbo), committing three thefts and making false 999 calls, the court heard.

On June 21, Rush, of Southfield Road, Middlesbrough, stole a pair of socks from Marks and Spencer, before being detained in another store and telling police he was hungry and wanted to sell the items in order to buy food.

A few days later Rush, who was given an Asbo in June 2005 preventing him calling emergency services unless he needed urgent attention, made a call from a phone box on Newport Road. The court heard police found him to be drunk and asked him to hang up the phone.

On July 6, he went on to steal perfume worth £150 from Binns and admitted the offence, which had been caught on CCTV.

He also made three emergency calls to the North East Ambulance Service and on July 16, stole a soft drink and a sandwich from the petrol station at Sainsbury’s in Middlesbrough, the court heard.

Sharon Elves, prosecuting, told the court Rush had only been released from a short prison sentence of 11 weeks on May 1.

Martina Connolly, defending Rush, described him as a “chronic alcoholic”.

“As long as this 53-year-old man continues to drink, in all inevitability he will continue to behave the way he has,” she said. “The Probation Service see something in him and can engage with him when he is not in drink.”

The judge, Recorder Neil Davey QC, gave Rush a community order with 18 months’ supervision and a six-month alcohol treatment programme in the hope of breaking the cycle of offending.